In the field of animal care, animals with long haired coats, including without limitation horses, llamas, camels and dogs, require combing and thinning to clear tangles, debris and insects that collect in the hair, thus preventing the hair from matting. Regular currying provides a healthier environment for the animals, as well as a more pleasant appearance.
Prior curry combs have generally oriented the teeth of the comb at an angle generally perpendicular to the length of an elongated handle. As a result of this orientation, the points of the comb teeth will poke and potentially scratch the skin of the animal being combed. Prior efforts to overcome the damage to an animal's skin have included the curvature of the teeth as shown in U. S. Pat. No. 3,491,725 issued to Maniscalco on Jan. 27, 1970. However, the construction of the '725 device is such that only one type of comb is available to the groomer and with repeated use the blades and handle will loosen, thus reducing the efficiency and safety of the curry comb.
Prior curry combs have also used generally smooth handles that will tend to slip in the hand of the groomer, especially when the comb encounters a tough snarl of hair or if the groomer's hand is wet. Such slippage is unsatisfactory because of its inefficiency as well as the potential for injury to the animal or the groomer. Also, groomers often use gloves while grooming. A smooth handle is difficult to manipulate in heavily matted hair, especially when gloves are used and when water is involved, as after an animal is bathed. It has also been found that curry combs assembled with threaded bolts, for example are prone to loosening over time, particularly as they are frequently tugged through matted and tangled hair.
In many cases, it is desirable to use a curry comb that does not have blades sharp enough to easily cut the hair. Instead the desire is to have the blades work their way through the tangled hair, removing any debris or insects and leaving the hair in a generally parallel orientation. However, there are times when it is desirable to thin the hair or to cut out hair that has become so hopelessly tangled that a comb cannot reorient the hair. For this situation, it is desirable to have blades that are sharp enough to cut the hair with force that will not be a discomfort to the animal. Heretofor two separate curry combs have been required two in order to provide both the combing function and the cutting function.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a curry comb that is adaptable to both comb and cut the long hair of animals. It is also an object to provide a curry comb that resists slippage in the hand of a groomer, even when the groomer's hand is wet or gloved. It is a further object to provide a method of manufacturing a curry comb with aligned blades that w ill not loosen with use. These and other advantages will become apparent to one skilled in the art when the following description is considered along with the drawings.